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Ontarians continue to dislike living in Ford Nation: OPSEU poll

“I’ve yet to come across a poll in which Ontarians say Doug Ford is headed in the right direction. Polls may be just a snapshot, but there are enough snapshots of unhappy Ontarians to fill a photo album.” — Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU President

Toronto (6 May 2019) — A new poll done for Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) has found almost 60 per cent of respondents dislike living in Ontario with Doug Ford as Premier, and even Conservative supporters remain less than lukewarm toward him.

OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas says the Innovative Research poll is further evidence that Ford is swimming against the tide and that Ontarians don’t like the direction he’s taking.

“This confirms what we’re hearing every day,” said Thomas. ”Ontarians don’t like a premier who is mean to children with autism, they don’t like a premier who is savaging our health care and education systems, and they don’t like a premier who only cares about rewarding his own cronies.

“Doug when are you going to start actually listening to ‘the people’?”

Even Progressive Conservative voters questioning Ford govt.

The survey, which interviewed 600 people between April 18 and April 28, and has a margin of error of +/- 4 per cent, also found that respondents who identified as Progressive Conservatives aren’t giving Ford a ringing endorsement. Only 52 per cent said they think Ford is his party’s best choice as premier.

“Members of Ford’s caucus should take note of that,” Thomas said. “Your supporters aren’t comfortable with decisions like privatizing cannabis sales or putting beer and wine in convenience stores.”

“You should stop being afraid of Ford enforcers like Dean French and stand up for your constituents in caucus and in the legislature when it comes to voting for his legislation.

Ontarians concerned about a range of issues

OPSEU asked several questions in the omnibus poll. Here are some of the key findings:

77 per cent of Ontarians remain concerned about cuts to public services

52 per cent are unhappy with Doug Ford appointing his friends and cronies to lucrative government jobs.

38 per cent felt the Ford government’s recent budget will leave them worse off, only 7 per cent of those asked feel the budget will help them.

The results are in line with a poll OPSEU commissioned last year that ranked Doug Ford as one of the biggest problems Ontario faced.

“I’ve yet to come across a poll in which Ontarians say Doug Ford is headed in the right direction,” said Thomas. “Polls may be just a snapshot, but there are enough snapshots of unhappy Ontarians to fill a photo album.”

“There are a lot of good people in the Conservative caucus who are in politics for the right reason. It’s time for you to pull on the leash and rein in the pit bull premier and his litigious crybaby chief of staff Dean French who are making a mess of it.”

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 390,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. — NUPGE